When did you turn your car seat around?

[Karina]

Hi ladies,

just wondering if you can tell me when you turned around your car seat to a forward facing position? I know the RTA used to say to do it at 6months/70cm/8kg or something like that, but now I cant find the info on their website! ...

Claire is almost 6 months, but is only just 6kg now and about 62cm i think, so would it be better to wait a little longer before changing the seat?
I've just put on lay-by a Safe'n'Sound Meridian and the place I bought it from is accredited to install the seats, so when I go and pick it up in few weeks I am going to get them to put it in for me as I am too unco to do it myself, but do I get them to put it in bckwards or forwards?? Some people say it is better to have her in a backwards facing seat until she is physically too big to fit that way..

Ok, I am finally getting to the point now, which is:
What did others do??

[visitor2]

Eleanor is still rearfacing at 7months old and she weighs 8.5kilos. I don't think i will turn her round for a while yet.

Some are now waiting till they are 12months old.

[Erin_25]

Hi there, I was recently told by someone that you are not supposed to move bubs around until they have had full head control for a little while....not sure how true that is.
Charlie is almost 18wks & we just turned ours around as he is 7.5kg & 67cm long...bit of a chubba. He's had very good head/neck control for a while & when the seat is facing forwards due to the way our back seat is it's still very reclined.
We've seen a big difference as he's more alert & can see us & what's going on, now he doesn't grizzle anymore. I can also see him much better & he's heaps easier to get in & out.

[Snowy Love]

DS is nearly 1 (where has the time gone) and he's still rearward facing in my car. DH just got a Crewman as a company car (yay!) and we put a forward facing seat in it. They say its safer with them rearward facing and DS still falls asleep on any substantial car rides so I'm happy with him facing back and he doesn't complain. The maximum weight for rearward facing on my seat is 12kg and DS is 10kg atm so I'm gonna just weigh him every now and then and when he's close to 12kg I'll get it turned around.

There were a couple of threads a few months ago about rearward being safer and other countries having their kids face back for the first few years.

I'm pretty sure its a very small minority still rearward facing at 12 months but IMO the majority isn't always right.

[Roryrory]

Flynn is 14 months old and still rearward facing in a Safe n Sound Meridian. He might just be tipping the scales at 12kg (the recommended "turn around time") but DH (who is an engineer and into checking out specs and stuff like that) is keen on keeping him that way until his legs get too long to be comfortable. From our investigations the weight.age limits are more ball park guides - if your kid is at either end of the weight for age scale they wouldn't necessarily apply IMO. There might be something in having 12kg plus hanging out in free space in a side impact (in that he might sway a bit to the side) but at least he will sway away from the impact, and I am pretty sure front-on collisions are more common. Another thing to remember is that many products are (thankfully) over engineered for safety, so it the recommendation says 12kg maximum it has probably been tested at much greater weights.

[Olive]

were still rearfacing and will be for as long as possible

[*charmalea*]

ds is 10mths and 10kgs .. he is still rear facing in my lancer but forward facing in out patrol... but he will be rear facing for as long as we can coz i belive its much safer ...

Why Our Children Should Face Rearward Video

here is a threads and a video on why we should keep bubs rear facing

htht

[krisp]

We turned our DS around when he was about 8 months old. He was instantly happier being able to see us, but I do know that it is supposed to be safer to have them rear facing as long as possible.

[Ozziehoffy]

Karina, I just had my seat (same as the one you're getting) re-fitted today at the Ambulance. Lucky I asked him to double check DH's attempt cos it didn't seem right to me and it wasn't in tight enough!! This wasn't actually Andy's fault cos he said that most people do it exactly the same way and it's just not safe enough. Anyway, he said bubs at least 6 months (and usually trying to sit up) before turning around but if they're happy rearward then leave them that way for as long as possible. The seat looks very comfy too and Oskar seems to be even happier in it than the capsule!

[Lisa]

Harrison is 6 months old... and rear facing and we have no intention of forward facing him in the near future... We might consider it when he is 10 months or so.

[amanda_81]

Abbey is 16 months and a little over 9kg and she is still rear facing. We have a safe and Sound Royale and I can keep her rear facing till she is 12 kgs. She is a bit of a squirt and quite happy to face that way so we havent bothered changing. My DP read the thread and watch the video and is now adamant that we wont change her around till we have to. The video in the thread is a must see.

HTH

[visitor1]

Chelsea is 8.3kg, 68cm and 8 and half months old.. still rear facing. I wanted to keep her that way as long as possible....but will only be that way for another 6 or so weeks til bub comes along. I have a new seat ready to go for her, just need it installed.

[Kirsty EW]

We have only recently turned Gus around. We also have a S&S Meridian. We waited as looooong as possible for safety reasons and made sure he was definitely 8kg before we made the switch. Size wise we definitely could have kept him rear facing for longer (he's only 8.3kg now at 2 years old), but he was getting angry about not knowing where we were going. Think his displeasure at rear facing started when we hired a car with a forward facing seat while on holidays. Biiiig mistake in retrospect, as methinks we might have lasted considerably longer if we hadn't exposed him to the possibility of forward facing.

[ShootingStar]

Jesse was 6 months to the day.. he weighed 9.4kgs. Reason we turned him around was he would forever be lifting his head up to see out (he had good head posture), also being he was a heavy boy it was getting hard lugging his boof out of the centre of the car.

[christy]

hmmm... I dunno I may turn the car seat around when she's grown out of it and has too... I'm in no rush. I was thinking when she was 2.

[mbear]

Lucky I asked him to double check DH's attempt cos it didn't seem right to me and it wasn't in tight enough!! This wasn't actually Andy's fault cos he said that most people do it exactly the same way and it's just not safe enough.

FYI - I had my two girls car seats re-fitted last week and the guy told me 95% of seats/booster/capsules he looks at are installed INCORRECTLY, on a national scale, its 85%........

[Tobily]

Toby is 10 months and still rear-facing in a safe-n-sound seat. They hold them until 12kgs, he's still got a kilo or so to go I think so he'll probably be staying that way for a while longer.

[Emma1979]

hmmmmm how do you keep your kids in the rear facing seats for so long!!???

my dd is 5 months and i cant wait to turn her around, she is constantly lifting and straining her head trying to see out and escape from her seat. i think she will be a lot happier once she can see out and about when she is facing forwards.

just wondering if they still fall asleep when facing forwards, or does their head fall to the side/forward akwardly???